Interesting article on the desperate people who frequent these places - N.Y.seems to have become one big sucker\'s paradise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[Social Mood Watch] Rage Against the One-Armed Machine
2012, Social Mood Watch
Robert Folsom | July 25, 2012
The Resorts World Casino opened in the New York City borough of Queens this past October. Visitors are welcome to avail themselves of the vast facility's 6,500 parking spots, tram service from the nearest subway stop, and its 5,000-plus slot machines.
Its opening followed a literal decade of delays, and local protests that the city's first casino would "bring a surge of crime" and a "deluge of social ills, like divorce, gambling addiction or suicide."
Yet with 15,000 to 25,000 daily visitors, Resorts World is succeeding financially: Tax revenue alone amounts to an estimated $1.5 million per day. Even so, it has also become clear that fears of bad behavior related to the casino were not unfounded.
The New York Times recently reported that since Resort World opened its doors,
"...police officers from the 106th Precinct have been a familiar sight, arrests frequent and acts of violence disturbingly common. There is, in fact, a crime wave plaguing the cavernous halls of this mega-casino: people punching gambling machines."
The story went on to say that the number of people arrested for damaging machines exceeds the number of arrests both for larceny (pickpockets) and for assault. What's more, the casino gives gamblers a chance to pay for damages after a machine-beating episode, and calls the cops only if the perpetrator refuses.
A security guard said the scenario usually includes "fuming gamblers who have punched, kicked or slapped a slot machine that refused to spit out a jackpot, leaving flickering rows of cherries and number 7s beneath a pane of shattered glass."
So now that we know the "what" — a pattern of behavior with gamblers beating up machines — we ask "Why?" Specifically, "Why now?"
Yes, one could say "Because they lost money." But gamblers have been losing to the house for as long as casinos have been around. And it's not as if these gamblers expect to get away with beating up a slot machine; Resort World employs 1,500 surveillance cameras.
Our theory is that patterns of collective violence and destructiveness increase in times of negative social mood. The pattern this story describes is one among many others that have become visible as the negative mood itself spreads ever wider.
The current issue of The Socionomist explains where social mood is right now — follow this link to see it on your screen within minutes.